The Sour Grapes of Self-Righteousness

The Sour Grapes of Self-Righteousness

“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

Luke 15:25-30

No good deed goes without criticism. Standing outside of the location of the festivities for the return of the prodigal son, was the saturnine, sneering, self-righteous brother of the young man. The father, desiring unity in his home, entered into conversation with the brother, whereupon the young man said, ‘So he answered and said to his father, “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.”’ These are the sour grapes of self-righteousness, and they produce bitter wine, which poisons the one who drinks it. What the young man is saying is, ‘I am better than he is. I have been more faithful. I have even more consistent. I have been more moral, upright, and virtuous.’ He goes on to charge his father with inequity. He, in essence, says, ‘You have never given me credit for being so good. You have never been impressed with me as you should be.’ Here is the song of the self-righteous. For us, if we are to be this self-righteous, we must ignore our inherent sinfulness. We must disregard the demands of God’s Law. We must deny the Virtue and Value of Christ. We must elevate ourselves and do despite to His Person and His Work. This is the pride of the Pharisee, and the pitfall of the self-justifier. Christ came not to call the self-righteous, but sinners to repentance. We cannot simultaneously cling to our self-righteousness and embrace Christ.

Our most Loving and Wise God,
we confess before You our self-righteousness.
We desire that You should enable us to evermore look away from ourselves,
and unto Christ, Who is our Righteousness.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning